AP: Zhuhai round six race report

Jones and Choo Celebrate Double Victories as O'Young Snatches
Championship Lead
Australian Christian Jones took his second Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
victory of the
day, winning Round 6 with another faultless performance on the ...

Australian Christian Jones took his second Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
victory of the
day, winning Round 6 with another faultless performance on the 4.2km
Zhuhai
International Circuit. Jones crossed the line with a comfortable margin
of more
than four seconds from GruppeM Racing's Tim Sugden. Hong Kong's
Darryl
O'Young was 3rd for the second time today, but his consistency paid
off to put
Team Jebsen top of the Championship leaderboard after six races.

O'Young now leads with a one point advantage over Jones, who had
arrived in
Zhuhai 3rd in the standings. Team StarChase driver Christian Menzel,
Class A
leader at the start of the weekend, now lies 3rd after a dramatic change
in
fortunes for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers.

Jones, fastest in qualifying, untouchable on his way to two emphatic
victories
and setting the fastest lap in both races, proved beyond doubt he is
worthy of
the support he is seeking so he can contest the rest of the season, and
continue
his fight for the title.

Team Jebsen's O'Young was delighted to put his team top of the
leaderboard,
despite a trying weekend: "Leading the Championship is the best part
of the
weekend, and that's where I want to keep us for the rest of the
season," he said.

SC Global Racing's Matthew Marsh crossed the line 4th ahead of Team
PCS
Racing's Mok Weng Sun, both drivers recording their best finishes so
far this
season.

In Class B, ThunderAsia Racing's Melvin Choo also notched up his
second win of
the day, ahead of Hong Kong's Philip Ma and Australian Paul
Tresidder. Tressider
had had a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday, but had fought
back
superbly to claim a podium finish in the second race of the day.

Jones got away well from pole, however Sugden was not as quick off the
start
and had to fight off a hard-charging O'Young. Meanwhile Menzel was
on a charge,
getting by Team BetterLife's Marchy Lee to go 4th off the start.

Malaysia's Tunku Hammam, 2nd in Class B, had a disastrous start from
the 4th
row of the grid, but fought back hard to finish 11th, setting the fastest
Class B
lap on the way.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Danny Chu had started from the back after a
disappointing
first race, but was up to 9th by the third lap. Chu is new to both the
series and
GT racing this season, but there is no doubt he is now finding his feet.

Disaster struck for Hong Kong's Marchy Lee on Lap 3, when the Team
BetterLife
ace went off. On the same lap, Marsh got by Menzel, but the German
immediately
began piling on the pressure, headlights blazing. Marsh held him off
valiantly, but
Menzel reclaimed 4th position on Lap 5, only to crash out four laps later
after
making an uncharacteristic driver error.

Choo's win strengthens his grip on the Class B standings even
further, and he now
has a 25 point margin from rival Hammam, whom he admitted he almost
missed
during the race: "It feels different without him around. I was
looking out for him.
I won't go so far as to say I missed him, but it was definitely
different."

After two 12-lap races in searing temperatures, all the drivers were
feeling the
effects, particularly those who elected not to use their cool suits.
Choo was
experiencing cramps in the final two laps, while Sugden had taken liquids
with
him in the car in an attempt to rehydrate enroute.

Although it was not the happiest of birthdays for Menzel, he and Team
StarChase
were able to raise some funds for the victims of the recent China
earthquake.
Along with the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, and Ringo Chong and Team
Kangshun,
they gave donors the ride of a lifetime with some hot laps in the Porsche
911 GT3 Cup car.

The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia now travels to Indonesia for Rounds 7 and 8
at
the 3.9km Sentul International Circuit outside Jakarta from July 18-20.
The next
races will be run as part of the Asian Festival of Speed weekend.